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US carries out first executions since botched lethal injection

Wed 18 Jun 2014, 4:32 PM AEST

The United States has carried out the first two executions since a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma in April, after last-minute appeals were denied.

Marcus Wellons, 58, convicted of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, was put to death shortly before midnight (local time) in the southern state of Georgia, a spokesman for the prison system said.

In the second case, John Winfield, 43, convicted of killing two women, was executed in the central state of Missouri, state prison system spokesman Mike O'Connell said.

A third execution is also scheduled for 6:00pm (local time) on Wednesday in the southern state of Florida.